A Black Rose
by Mikisanji
Summary: Ruby could always count on her older sisters, especially when it came time for Beacon. Yang was overprotective of her younger sisters. Nyx just wanted to keep Ruby safe and Yang out of trouble. Rated M for flexibility's sake. Currently focused on Telepathy by TwistedFate MK2.
1. Chapter 1

**Mika ~ So, here's my first self-published story. I've lurked here on Fanfiction for a reasonably long amount of time without one. I'd like to thank Twisted Fate, my mutual cowriter and editor, for… Well, editing.**

 **Twisted ~ Aww, you're embarrassing me, Mika-chan. Anyway, you did most of this I just fixed grammar.**

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The forest was eerily quiet, today. That was the first thing she remembered noticing. Year upon year of ingrained instinct set her on edge, with that small thing.

Raven Xiao Long kept a hand on her sword on her hip, looking around for anything that might change that. She had gotten reports of Grimm here in her hometown of Patch, something that must be dealt with before it became a problem, and had unfortunately been the only one on-hand able to handle it at the time. It was simply too dangerous to wait until Taiyang or Qrow came home. She heard a sound and took a step to look for something on the town's edge. A brief wave of nausea hit her, making her stop in her tracks as she shook herself out of it, hearing the sound again.

Raven's hand tightened on her sword as she heard a branch snap and slid instinctively into a defensive stance, and a young Beowolf leapt out of the brush with a snarl. Raven drew her sword, slashing the beowolf in half before sheathing it again all in a flash of red. It collapsed, whimpered once in pain, and died with a pained snarl. And the forest came alive with snapping claws and snarling jaws.

An ambush, the very last thing she had needed. Obviously, there were Vulpes here, and the Beowolf had gotten impatient and attacked ahead of them. It was, after all, a young one and those tended to be impatient and impulsive.

Twenty Vulpes, smaller, more vulpine cousins to the Beowolf, leaped out of the bushes, jumping at her. Mentally, Raven remembered what her teachers had told her, a mere three years ago- Vulpes were quick, and much smaller than beowolves, but had weaker armor and strength. They were also capable of at least basic tactics, leading many to believe that they were sapient to some extent once they got to a more advanced age, much like the Goliaths and Nevermores.

Raven drew her sword, stabbing at one and slashing two more as the mob hit her in force. These were young ones, inexperienced and foolish much like the young 'Wolf she had slain momentarily. She dodged a claw and countered, scoring a hit that killed the Vulpes instantly. She didn't stop, stabbing, cutting, and dodging, a single mistake easily able to cost her her life.

And then it went wrong. Her sword was made from pure Dust, giving it several different properties. However, "pure" dust was weak, easily breaking due to it's unmixed state, making it a dangerous if powerful weapon to wield in prolonged melee combat She had just killed eighteen grimm, and two were still alive, but she could feel the exhaustion kicking in. And something felt… wrong.

One of the grimm clawed at her, and she brought the sword up to block, which turned out to be a mistake. Grimm claws met the weakened pure dust of her blade, and Grimm claws won out after a moment. The shattering sword knocked the Grimm off balance for just a moment, and Raven took advantage of the momentary balance issue. Raven stabbed the broken sword into the Grimm in partial desperation, killing it quickly. As she turned to meet the second, however, she felt a sharp pain in her side as she was tackled to the ground hard enough to drive the air from her lungs, her sword falling to the side and skittering away a couple inches.

The Vulpes Alpha's teeth snapped shut with an enraged snarl, inches from her face, as she reached for her sword, her sheathe, anything to beat off the black monster, as she managed to get a hand around the Grimm's neck. Her left arm felt wet and distant, much weaker than her right and much weaker than usual, in fact. Of course, Vulpes or not, she couldn't break an Alpha's neck bare-handed, even if she were in peak condition.

Her fingers found her sheathe, and she brought it closer to her, slamming it against the grimm's head in desperation. Then, she remembered the knife. Six years ago, with Taiyang, Summer and Qrow, her team, Summer gave her a personalized combat knife as a present. Under Summer's urging, she had put it on her sheathe and only used it for simple, non-combat related things in the years since.

But it was a big knife that Summer had intended for her to use as a weapon, fearing a day her blade would break in the midst of a fight as had happened now.

So Raven unsheathed that very knife, slamming it into the Vulpes' side with as much force as she could muster. It gurgled a bit, and Raven pulled out the knife and stabbed it a second time and a Vulpes stopped struggling as it slumped limply against Raven, it's body beginning to fade away as the bony plates clinked against the ground beside her. Raven pushed the Grimm off her, putting a hand on her side as she gingerly picked herself up and staggered a couple steps away.

Her hand came back covered in blood, and she looked at the wound, hissing a bit due to the pain she only just realised she was feeling. Adrenaline was funny that way, sometimes. Three gouges were easily apparent, the rusty-grey hint of living rib showing in the deepest one, and each were more or less straight cuts which she supposed was lucky. Her aura probably was the only thing that was keeping her alive. Her arm was similarly gouged, though thankfully the bone was not visible.

"That does not look good…" Raven detached her broken sword, putting the hilt into the sheath and letting a new blade cycle. Reaching into her pouch, she grabbed a few field dressings and slapped them onto her wounds gently but hurriedly. As if to answer her earlier question, she suddenly felt lightheaded, tired, and weak, the adrenaline of the fight wearing off.

She raised a hand, forming a portal that slowly but steadily grew and finally stabilized. Stepping through, she instantly met the eyes of concerned doctors and gave off a half-hearted shrug. Then she stumbled, her eyes closing slightly as she felt her knees give way, and fell into a blissful unconsciousness.

"-ven?"

Raven opened her eyes, looking up at the unfamiliar ceiling nervously for a minute. A brief wave of nausea hit her again, and she bit it back before letting out a painful groan. Looking up, she smiled as she recognised the doctor and calmed slightly, settling into her typical polite unprofessionalism.

"Amea, it would've been nice to see you in better circumstances. How long was I out this time?" The woman was average in build and look with shoulder-length dark hair that she reached up to play with nervously. Which caused her small golden ring to glint slightly in the light.

"Two days. Taiyang's been told about your condition, and he's on his way as we speak. Furious too, from what I've heard." She smiled slyly at the brunette, and Raven grimaced. She knew that face well, unfortunately for her. "Someone told him his wife went out to fight by herself. Turns out he doesn't like that."

"Where is he?" She asked impatiently, mainly because she was nervous. She was in so much trouble with him when they got home, he'd probably hide the pickles from her. He'd been doing that lately whenever she misbehaved or did something stupid, which she was wont to do.

"We both know Taiyang, he's very… Passionate. So he's been confined to the waiting room until you woke up and I got to talk to you. Or he calmed down, though he's probably still upset." The young woman pulled a chair up next her injured friend, polite smile fixed firmly in place.

"So, what's the damage, Ammi?" Raven asked nervously, though not for the obvious reason of her actual injuries. she was actually hoping to be mildly hurt, as that would make Taiyang protective of her.

"I won't lie to you. It's bad. You have six large lacerations in total, three on your abdomen and three on your lower arm. The lacerations on your side are ranging from two inches to half an inch." The young doctor grabbed the folder ful of the information, listing off each with mechanical precision which would have amused her if not for the fact she ws the one who was hurt. "The first lacerations were in your ribcage, between the last and the second-to last ribs and broke the second-to-last rib. The second scraped against your first floater rib, exposing it but also saving your life, as well as cutting into your lung. The last, deepest cut, however, scraped against your hip. and there were… complications we found. Your arms were to the bone in every circumstance. I won't lie to you- they chose me because the two of you are my friends. It would be vastly easier for me to tell him that you didn't make it when I'd be holding back tears myself as he wouldn't hit a crying friend."

"Good thing I made it then, I guess. What were the complications though?" He friend actually smiled and stood up, and both calmed Raven's concerns considerably.

Amea put her hand on Raven's shoulder, smiling a bit more in comfort. "Raven, had it been a few inches deeper, I wouldn't have such good news. You're pregnant with twins."

Raven blinked a bit, speechless, as her hand slowly slid down to cup her stomach. "I'm… Pregnant? With... twins?" Then that was why she had been feeling unwell, which made sense when she thought about it.

"Congratulations. Now, we do need to keep you in observation. One of the fetuses may have an issue that might lead to a miscarriage or a condition that requires abortion, especially if we can't get to any problems in time." She grimaced, flipping a page in her folder absently.

Raven blinked, shocked out of the revelation of motherhood by the unsettling statement. "Please don't do this to me, Amea."

Amea gave Raven a slight hug, smiling slightly as she put the ultrasounds onto the table. "Shh, it'll be fine. We just need to keep you in observation until it's clear. No more Hunting for the duration of the pregnancy. Bedrest as much as possible. Expect to become a housewife for a while. I… Haven't told Taiyang yet, I'll let you handle that."

Raven nodded, picking up the ultrasound results and giving a soft smile as she saw the two blobs on the screen that would become her babies. Raven noticed something odd on the one on the left, closest to where staples shone out white on the black background. "Hey, Amea. What's this on that baby..."

Amea took a look at it and smiled, all too familiar with that specific shape due to her own pregnancy a year before. "It looks like you have a faunus baby as well as a human one…"

Raven smiled brightly, looking up to her friend. "I'd like the two of them to meet someday."

Amea Scarlatina smiled, looking her friend in the eyes brightly. "I'd love to introduce Velvet to your kids, Rae. It'd be great."

Taiyang Xiao Long gently closed the hospital door behind him,and turned to smile at the completely exhausted looking Raven on her bed. It had been hours of waiting for him, torture in and of itself in a way, but he knew she'd had it harder. It took something special to have a pair of twins a few months after a fight like that. He'd been worried, stressed, terrified to no end of all of this but the two little mounds curled up with their smiling mother set that at ease almost immediately.

They'd been premature, and both had nearly died as a result, but they were strong little tikes in spite of everything. He'd seen them both in the hospital's natal unit, and eventually they'd been released to their mother in her own room. Her threats to use her portals may have played a part in that, though, to be fair. They were both sleeping, one with two little tufts for ears on top of her head, and he already knew what his father had always meant when he talked about seeing your own child.

If anyone tried to lay a hand on his little angels, he'd cave their heads in. Which, for him, pretty much summarised what loving a person was.


	2. Chapter 2

**For those who are uninformed, Me and Twisted Fate Mk2 are co writers for each other. I work on Telepathy with him, and due to it's massive amount of followers, I'm mostly focusing on that story.**

 **Twisted~ Hi~ I edit for senpai.**

 **Mika~ I'm younger than him.**

 **Twisted~ Shush! You ruin all my fun.**

 _ **Seventeen years later, Vale. A day before Beacon Academy.**_

"You find anything new, Yang?" Nyx asked hopefully, an ear twitching at a sound the blonde across from her couldn't distinguish herself as she slumped down into the restaurant's chair, looking out to the open-aired street calmly.

"Nothing worth mentioning. Blew up a shady bar, met Ruby, beat some idiot up who messed up my hair. The usual, I guess." Yang said simply, sipping at her drink. A small glass with an umbrella, a light, fruity drink swirling inside the cup idly. "You?"

"Better day than I've had, I guess, at least you got to have some fun. It was just an abandoned building, not even a hint at anything useful." Nyx sighed with a groan, shifting her sword on her hip into a slightly more comfortable position and holding a hand up to call for a waiter.

"Ouch. Long day, sis?" Yang asked, smiling comfortably and leaning back in her chair with her glass in hand, resting an arm on the chair's top comfortably.

"It was a big building." Nyx said simply, drumming her fingers on the table while she waited for a waiter impatiently. "Four stories of rooms and unimportant papers, some odd bits of metal and stuff. Found an old White Fang flag, though, so that may be a thing I guess."

"Can I get you anything else?" A faunus waitress said, a notepad in hand with a curious flick of her ears - probably having heard the blonde call Nyx her sister a moment prior - smiling warmly.

"Dr Pepper, please." Nyx said to the waitress, giving a kind, gentle smile. It was stressful being a Faunus of any type, even in Vale, and even in a generally Faunus-friendly area of the city. "Oh, and the chicken strips!"

"Would you also like the berry basket?" The waitress said, and Nyx looked at the menu for a moment, quickly reading the mentioned salad and smiling lightly.

"Yeah, that looks good too. Gimme that with the chicken, if you don't mind." She watched the waitress scribble out the order for a moment before turning back to her sister, ears flicking.

"Very well then. Your food will be out shortly, just let me know if you want anything else." The two girls watched her jog away absently to take more orders, waiting until the girl could hopefully not hear her before speaking again.

"So, which flag was it?" Yang spoke up, sipping at her drink idly after the other girl nodded to indicate it was safe enough to talk.

"The Crying Wolf. What do you think it was?" Nyx muttered impatiently, glaring at her sister half-heartedly for several seconds while the other gave her an unamused look. "Looked messed up a bit though, might have been a while since they left."

"Ah." Yang seemed sad, obviously disheartened by what appeared to be simply yet another dead lead and Nyx sighed, watching the waitress come and drop off their orders before speaking up.

"We'll find her, Yang. Just have to keep digging. If it were this easy to find mom, then dad would have done it a long, long time ago." She gave the blonde a small smile, grabbing a tender," We'll get to her, and get our answers. Just have patience."

"Me and patience go together like light and dark, Nyxxie." Yang smiled, wiggling her eyes a bit at her sister," Get it?" Her answer was getting hit in the nose by a flying chicken tender and an unamused glare. "Hey, that one was funny!"

"Shut up and let me eat without your horrendous attempts at humor, night-light." She smiled when Yang glared at her, chuckling slighly.

Nyx and Yang stood up, Yang taking a final, loud sip of her drink. With that, Nyx picked up her long-sleeved black jacket, putting it on. Nyx and Yang, while obviously physically different in appearance if not just because Nyx had her fluffy black tail and ears, did have her same general outfit preference. Though ever-so-slightly shorter than her twin, she made up for it with small heels. And unlike her sister, she preferred darker clothing, like their younger sibling Ruby did, with red highlights.

Her shorts and jacket were actually a gift from Yang for Nyx's sixteenth birthday, with Ruby's assistance for color, and Nyx rather enjoyed wearing it most places. Thigh-high black boots and stockings, under her shorts that had a single cut-off leg and her matching black jacket with a single broad, red stripe down each arm with a thin, skin-hugging white shirt below that. Her hair and eyes was more like her mother's own, rather than her father's as was the case with Yang, and it was a dark, almost shadowy black especially opposed to Yang's own sunny hair. Her eyes, a bloody red, also opposed Yang's softer lilac eyes, though Yang's Semblance changed that.

An hour later, Yang and Nyx were on the airship, looking down at the crowds of people who were still outside boarding. And, to their utter amazement, they had found Ruby there, who was coming with them.

"I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me!" Yang shouted, giving Ruby a bear hug that quite frankly could have killed lesser men.

"Pleesh shtap." Ruby groaned out, trying to breathe, as Yang let her go and practically bouncing in excitement - an act most of the males aboard adored.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I'm so proud of you. Getting into Beacon two years early? You're going to be the bee's knees." Yang said apologetically.

"Who even says that?" Nyx observed aloud, looking at her fingernails idly.

"I just did." Yang said, crossing her arms and smiling confidently.

"I don't want to be the bee's knees. I don't want to be any kind of knee. I want to be a normal girl with normal knees." Ruby noticeably sighed. "I don't want to be special."

"But you are special." Yang said as Nyx thought up what to say next.

"You're our sister, you've got an awesome weapon, and everyone who matters is going to love you. Trust me." Nyx gave a gentle smile as an ear twitched. "You're doing better than he is."

As if on cue, a blond boy rushed past, gagging a bit on nothing. "I think I'd have to be dead to be doing worse than him." Ruby deadpanned as she watched him sympathetically.

Nyx's ears perked as she heard the news begin, and gave a sad shake of her head as she heard that the White Fang had triggered a peaceful protest to turn violent again. Nyx sighed, inwardly thankful that the White Fang had no hold on Patch whatsoever.

"You can see Signal Academy from here! Home's not that far away." Ruby interrupted, a grateful feeling coming over Nyx as she looked out to Vale, seeing Signal Academy in all it's glory.

"Beacon's going to be our home for a while. Don't worry, things will be great!" Yang spoke up cheerfully as a rancid smell hit Nyx's nose and she looked down.

"Oh my god…" Nyx gagged, stepping away from Yang as Ruby looked down too.

"Yang, you have puke on your shoe!" Ruby spoke, bouncing in place several time, in a panic as Nyx stepped away, covering her mouth to get the rancid smell away from her mouth.

"What the? Oh gross get it off!"

"Eww Yang get away! Oh god the smell!"

"Whyyyy…" Nyx moaned in disgust, biting back vomit of her own.

"Sorry! Augh, Vomit boy is dead for this!"

A few minutes later, the three of them left the airship, Nyx giving "Vomit Boy" a pitying gaze as she shook her head.


	3. Chapter 3

**Twisted~ Hi guys!**

 **Mika~ Sorry about the wait earlier…**

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"Wow..." The three sisters said together, looking up at Beacon Academy for the very first time in pure awe.

"The view from Vale's got nothing on this!" Yang said brightly as always, as Nyx looked around through the crowd curiously at both the people and the weapons.

"Ohmaigod, Sis! Sis! That kid's got a collapsible staff! And she's got a fire sword!" Ruby squeed, trying to move closer to the weapons excitedly.

As Nyx grabbed Ruby's hood, followed by Yang a split second later, she inwardly thought for a moment that if their life were an anime Ruby would've gone chibi for a few moments. "Easy there, Pup. Cool down a tick."

"Yeah, sis, they're just weapons!" Yang added, smiling at the knowledge that Ruby would overreact like she always did.

"'Just weapons'? They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! Oh, they're so _cool_!" Ruby squeed, clapping happily and blushing brightly.

"Well, why can't you swoon over Crescent Rose?" Nyx said easily, and teasingly, pointing at the collapsed scythe-rifle.

"Yeah, aren't you happy with it?" Yang added as they shared a glance, that teasing twinkle in both of their eyes they'd gotten from their father.

Ruby turned Crescent Rose into it's scythe form with a flick of her arm and a flourish, and it was only because of Nyx's familiarity with each of her sibling's weapons that it didn't cause her to jump. "Of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose! I just really like seeing new ones. It's like meeting new people, but better..."

"You know, she's actually right in a way. A person's Weapon typically tell a lot about someone's nature and personality." Nyx said, her eyes trailing down to her own serrated sword.

"Ruby, come on, why don't you go try and make some friends of your own? Maybe… Hang out with someone, talk about weapons?" Yang said, a hint of her motherly nature coming through as she pushed Ruby's hood down playfully.

"But... why would I need friends if I have you two?" Ruby said shyly and Nyx felt a faint pang of sympathy for her for a moment, but then she noticed her own friends a few yards away.

"Well..." Yang said, noticing them for the first time as well and taking the chance to force Ruby to open up to someone, anyone at all, aside from her. "Actually, my friends are here. Gotta go catch up. 'Kay, c'ya, bye." The two left, surrounded by Nyx's few friends and Yang's veritable entourage of friends, and Ruby groaned dejectedly.

"You think she'll be okay?" One of her friends, really just a friend of Yang's, voiced, a hint of concern in his voice.

"Yeah, she'll be fine."

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Yang said, waving happily in the sea of people and jumping slightly to get the young red-cloaked girl's attention. Ruby smiled excitedly and waved back before turning and saying something to her new blonde friend before shooting towards them as fast as her legs - and her semblance - could carry her reasonably. .

"How's your first day going, little sister?" Yang said."Who was your friend, too?" She tossed in from the side, smiling teasingly. "Seemed to be rather sad when you left."

"You mean since you and Nyx _ditched_ me and I _exploded_? I'm lucky that Jaune was there to help me!" Ruby snapped back, glaring slightly at her sisters with a heavy pout. "Also, where's Nyx?"

"Yikes! Meltdown already?" Yang joked lightly, smiling at the smaller sister. "She's with her friends."

"No, I _literally_ exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire, and I think some ice...?" Ruby pouted again, yanking her hood over her head and glaring as heatedly as she could at the blonde.

"Are you being sarcastic?" Yang said with a smirk.

"I wish! I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I _exploded_ , and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, _really_ bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me." She whimpered the last, clearly sad about it, and Yang grimaced in sympathy.

"Well, that's-"

" **YOU**." The snowy haired girl snapped angrily, glaring at the slightly taller brunette when she leapt into her sister's arms.

"Oh, God, it's happening again!" She whined frightenedly, tucking her hood up around her head and snuggling into her sister's shoulder.

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff, you dolt!" She practically snarled, pointing at her angrily.

"Oh, my God, you really exploded…" Yang muttered in surprise, looking at her concernedly.

"It was an accident!" Ruby said, turning to face Weiss. "It was an accident!"

"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee Family highly encourages customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field." Weiss droned on and on, getting faster and more unintelligible the more and more of the rhetoric she listed off

"Wha-?" Ruby said, confused eyes looking at the heiress curiously.

"You really wanna start making things up to me?" She asked simply, ignoring Yang's minor glare entirely.

"Absolutely?" She half said, half asked, nervously looking and smiling at the slightly smaller pale girl.

"Read this, and don't ever speak to me again." Weiss finished simply, nodding forcefully and turning slightly away from them.

Yang sighed, trying to mediate while Nyx glared," Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?" Weiss gave her an icy look and Ruby smiled hopefully.

"Yeah! Great idea, sis!" Ruby coughed lightly into her fist, holding a hand out to the Schnee calmly and hopefully," Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies! And… stuff."

"Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond, and _scraggly_ over there!" She smiled faux-excitedly, and Nyx grimaced at the obvious sarcasm.

"Wow, really?!" Ruby smiled happily, eye wide and expectant.

"No." Weiss deadpanned, watching the brunette's smiled vanish and turning to look at the stage.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." Nyx huffed in annoyance, echoed by Yang, and a few muttering voices betrayed the thoughts of the crowd. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

A woman that Nyx recognised as Glynda Goodwitch from the Airship arrived, pushing her glasses to her brow. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

"He seemed kind of... off." Ruby spoke aloud, almost to herself.

"It's almost like he wasn't even there." Yang agreed, while Nyx shivered slightly.

"He was a little bit creepy."

Nyx sighed, settling onto her sleeping bag, her tail twitching slightly. Ruby was beside her, writing a letter of some kind, probably to send to one of her friends at Signal. Of course, they had already changed for bed, though some of her more 'private' stuff was still at home.

"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang commented, plopping down next to her and Ruby.

"I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though." Ruby murmured quietly, looking at the blonde of the trio.

"I know **I** do!" Yang purred, looking at Nyx. "How about you?"

"I don't mind watching the beefcakes." Nyx said, her eyes focused on exactly that as Yang turned, watching multiple boys posing for the two, a particularly muscular faunus locking eyes with Nyx, who flushed in reply and shyly started playing with her hair. "There's so many people here though… Little bit nervous about that bit…"

"You'll be fin- Ugh." Yang said, a groan of disgust sounding out as a boy that Nyx recognised as Jaune walked past in a onesie, giving zero fucks about anything. While Yang thought it was unflattering, Nyx saw that it was brave of him to go into a Hunter's school wearing a onesie.

"What's that?" Yang asked, focusing on Ruby again.

"Oh, just a letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going." She smiled cutely, sticking her tongue out while she wrote.

"Aw, that's so **cuuuute**!" Yang said, only to get interrupted by Ruby throwing a pillow.

"Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends with me to school! It's weird not knowing anyone here!" Ruby snapped playfully.

"You can say that again, Pup." Nyx muttered. Aside from her single mutual friend of Yang's, all of her friends had gone to different schools.

"What about Jaune? He's... nice! There you go! Plus one friend! That's a hundred percent increase!" Yang said encouragingly. "And besides, Nyx, you'll make friends. I know it."

"Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to zero…" Ruby said morosely, sighing sadly.

"Course, Weiss was a Schnee, so she's definitely gonna be frosty to people. Don't worry about it." Nyx said encouragingly, smiling at Yang.

"There's no such things as negative friends! You just made one friend and one enemy!" Yang said, getting a pillow to the face by Nyx. "Look, it's only been one day. Trust me; you've got friends all around you! You just haven't met them yet!"

"That girl…" Ruby said simply, looking at something. Nyx turned her head, seeing a black-haired girl reading a book by candlelight.

"You know her?" Nyx asked, getting up.

"Not really. She saw what happened this morning, but left before I could say anything."

"Well, now's your chance!" Yang said with finality, grabbing Ruby's arm and picking her up.

"Wait! What are you doing?!" She squealed, desperately trying to resist Yang's grip and unable to overpower the admittedly incredibly strong blonde.

"Hel-looooo! I believe you two may know each other?" Nyx heard Yang say as she settled into her own bed. Leaning back and opting to ignore her noisy sisters, she closed her eyes, and soon felt sleep take her.


	4. Chapter 4

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"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated to the fullest in the Emerald Forest." Professor Ozpin stated, sipping his tea casually.

Nyx checked the blade of her katana, gazing at the shark-tooth serration running from hilt to midsection and smiling fondly. The jagged edge gave way to a more conventional, razor-sharp tip, equally as honed as the day she'd gotten it. On the reverse side, a small dip concealed the barrel of a midsized firearm, lancing up the back of the blade in such a way that accommodated easy maintenance while also ensuring the barrel's durability.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... **today**." Professor Goodwitch stated as Nyx completed her final checks on her weapon, loading a full magazine into a receiver in the pommel of her sword. As she finally moved her attention away from her sword, Nyx caught a small sound issuing from Ruby, and Nyx felt a hint of amused pity.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Ozpin said, sipping his coffee as Nyx heard another student groan.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." He finished, taking a sip from his coffee.

"Whaaaa-?" Ruby said, and Nyx barely bit back a chuckle as she slid a belt into her clawed gauntlet, deftly adjusting the dust-laden wires and priming the release trigger.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you **will** die." he warned, taking a final sip from his coffee. Nyx heard Jaune gulped, inwardly wondering what the problem was for him. "You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and we will grade you appropriately. Also… There is an extra person this year. Miss Rose-Long."

Nyx looked up at the mention of her name. "Yes sir?"

"You will team up with the first team you see, Miss there any other questions?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the other candidates.

"Yeah, um, sir?" Jaune said, holding up his hand hesitantly.

" **Good!** Now, take your positions."

A spring fired, and the first student was flung into the air. One by one, they fired, and more and more students went flying. Yang whistled, tossing her a pair of sunglasses that she put on just as the spring fired.

She closed her eyes, feeling the wind rushing past her, running through her hair, her tail, and her clothes. Hearing a whoop of laughter, she rolled in the air, narrowly avoiding her over-eager fireball of a sister. Rolling her eyes at her antics, she looked below her, eyeing a tree that would serve her purposes. She smiled when she saw a large enough tree, exactly what she wanted, drawing her sword and reversing it in her grip. Then she angled her descent towards it, and slammed the serrated edge into it to hook onto and into the wood, spinning halfway around it once to slow her descent and rolling across a limb before dropping to the ground in a crouch and rubbing her slightly tingly shoulder and sighed when she heard an easily recognized growl behind her.

She hated Ursa. Mostly because either Dad, Ruby, Yang, Qrow or her had to deal with Grimm outside the Walls. Admittedly, Patch did have it's own natural walls- the sheer cliffs that stretched from one side of the island to the other and the sea to the remaining three sides of the city.

"Great..." Nyx said, her sword over her shoulder.

The grimm looked to each other as if for confirmation, and then started to rush her. The claw on Nyx's left hand gave a small scrape against the other fingers in her hand, slashing into the first Ursa's face and catching her claws into it's mask. Her sword darted around, stabbing into it's eye and killing it. Pulling her sword free, she rounded on another, cleaving through the Ursa's armor with little more than a jolt vibrating the hilt and biting into the flesh beneath with even less. Throwing the Ursa corpse to the side with a grunt, she turned, taking aim as her gauntlet fired, the wires tearing into the chest and throat of the fourth monster and killing it easily.

As the fifth, and final, Ursa came close to her, Nyx gripped her gauntleted hand tightly, channeling her semblance. An inky black, almost liquid, spike grew from a nearby tree, impaling the grimm through the throat easily, the creature coughing and scrabbling at it for a moment until its life bled out along the spike and the fire left its eyes. Nyx dispelled her spike, turning and starting to walk in a northerly direction. Nyx's ears twitched as she heard Yang's voice, and she started to move towards it. The forest was almost certainly chosen to throw Fauna off the scent, but it was wafting right into her nose regardless thanks to Yang's overpriced, overly _smelly_ brand of shampoo. And perfume.

The perfume was nice.

"Hey, Sis!" Yang said as Nyx entered the clearing. It took a moment, but she then saw a black-haired girl following, most likely her partner. "I get you as a partner! So, who's this?" Nyx asked, looking at the black-haired girl.

"Blake." She muttered quietly, collapsing her gun and sliding it into its sheath, "Good to meet you, I suppose."

Nyx caught the telltale scent of a cat faunus, concentrated around two people- Yang and Blake. And since she knew for a fact that Yang was a human… The girl's bow was easily oversized enough to hold a pair of ears, and Nyx smirked slightly. "So, Blake, how's it feel being a hidden faunus?"

"And not even a moment wasted." Yang said, chuckling happily. "Quick on the uptake as usual, Nyx!"

Blake sputtered, shocked, as her bow flattened and she looked at Yang. "How did you- You knew?"

"Yep. You don't live your entire life with a faunus sister and don't learn a few tricks. Didn't know you were a cat faunus, though." She shrugged, smiling happily all the while," S'just a thing, ya know?"

"Can you keep it a secret?" Blake asked quietly, rubbing an arm nervously.

"Since you asked, sure. My little sis might figure it out too with her partner, though." Yang said easily. Blake's ears dropped again as she gave a relieved sigh and nodded anxiously. "Now, anyone know where we're supposed to be headed? Xiao Long is the walk gonna be?"

Nyx hid a mild grin as she spoke up. "North. We'll probably know it when we find it."

Yang looked at her partner expectantly, smiling. All the while Blake maintained a steady glare back at her. Yang sighed in mock-annoyance and shook her head, "You're a grumpy kitty…" The glaring intensified as Yang's lighthearted actions continued, and didn't let up throughout leisurely stroll through the forest. Despite all this, Nyx couldn't help but enjoy herself as they neared their destination.

"Think this is it?" Yang said as Nyx took a knee on the side of a hill overlooking mounds and decrepit turrets of hewn stone. Nyx nodded, not taking her eyes off the scene, looking for any signs of hostile movement. Deeming it safe enough for the time being, she slid down the rubble-strewn descent, Blake following shortly after, eyes curiously focused on the "relics" in question.

"Chess pieces?" the cat-faunus asked, a hint of confusion in her voice as she looked around them at the small circle," Why are they chess pieces?"

"No idea…" Nyx said, looking around at them for a moment. "What should we choose?"

"Hmmmm...How about a cute little pony?" Yang asked brightly, grabbing on and raising it above her head indicatively.

"I'm okay with it." Nyx muttered, shaking her head in amusement.

Nyx's ears twitched as she heard a remarkably(and misleadingly, as the cry held a faint hint of masculinity) girlish scream come from the surrounding brush. It was obvious that the person in question was in trouble, likely very serious trouble too.

"Some girl is in trouble! Did you hear that?" Yang asked worriedly, turning to look around.

"Girl, no. Trouble? Definitely." Nyx said with a hint of concern. Her ears flicked as she heard the screaming continue, gradually getting louder. And then a louder, more familiar voice started to sound out.

Blake was pointing upwards, and Nyx's eyes followed, seeing Ruby falling from the sky. A burst of pure panic rose up in Nyx's mind, thinking of possibilities to save her. She couldn't let Ruby get injured. Scrapes are fine, but broken bones?

Nyx started to channel her Semblance quickly, only for a yellow streak to hit Ruby in midair, sending a shock of relief through her mind. "Ruby?"

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked the twins in disbelief.

"I…" Yang sputtered in disbelief.

Almost as if it were scripted, an ursa barrelled through the forest, flailing desperately, before pink flashes came from it. With a final, weak flail, it fell over, dead.

And then it's rider came into view, bounding off its back happily, hammer in hand. "Awwww... It's broken."

"Nora! Please... Don't ever do that again."

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked calmly from behind the twin Xiao Longs, pointing in stunned silence at the ginger hammer-wielder and her green-clothed apparent-partner.

"I… Don't… I can't even… " Nyx sputtered. Nyx heard a screech as a red haired girl Nyx recognised as Pyrrha Nikos ran out from the forest, followed by a Deathstalker.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried, sprinting as hard as her legs would carry the hoplite towards the others in the group.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune cried. "Ruby!" He said in shock as she jumped out of the next to them to run out of the tree, surprising them both.

"Ruby!" Nyx said with relief, smiling in spite of herself at her sister, safe and sound, running with the other two towards her.

"Yang! Nyx!" Ruby cried happily, slamming into the first with a hug hard enough to knock over all non-Yangs/Nyxs.

"Nora!" Nora cheered, interrupting their tender moment.

Yang growled, her eyes turning red and flames coming off her hair. " **I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something** _ **crazy**_ **happens again?!"**

"...Um, Yang?" Nyx and Ruby said gently, looking up at the sky and pointing. Far above in the sky was a Nevermore, the massive Grimm-bird circling angrily over them. And on its side, hanging desperately, was a small white fleck that had to be the missing heiress.

"How could you leave me?!" Weiss shouted down, clutching onto the talon for dear life.

"I said 'jump'!" Ruby shouted up, completely reasonably and not slightly unhinged at all before looking at the others," I told her to jump. Really, I did."

"She's gonna fall." Blake said, watching them and the heiress high above.

"How much you want to bet?" Nyx asked, smiling thinly. "Five bucks says she falls in twenty seconds."

"She'll be fine." Ruby said simply, shrugging. "She's got this."

"She's falling." Ren deadpanned, pointing up at her.

"Dammit." Nyx cursed. "Wait, nobody took the bet! Yes!"

Nyx resisted the urge to facepalm as Jaune caught Weiss in mid air, only to fall to the ground a few seconds later almost comically. Pyrrha, having successfully evaded the Deathstalker and slipped away, sprinted to the group and came to a tired looking stop, breathing heavily and sweating profusely from all the running.

"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang said sarcastically, waving her hands in aggravation at the two titanic Grimm.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby said, sounding a battle cry before starting to attack the armored scorpion Grimm head-on with her scythe.

"Ruby, wait! You didn't pack your piercing ammo!" Yang said, a hint of shock in her voice. Nyx said nothing, starting to run towards the fight herself to cover her younger sister. Ruby's rounds impacted the Deathstalker with enough force to stagger it, the creature taking a massive half-step back, and then covering its face when she swiped her scythe at it.

"Don't worry, I'm fine!" Ruby quipped after she dodged the counter, staggering away in her off-balanced state slightly before firing her rifle to throw herself away from the creature and spinning to run away as fast as feasible, the creature moving to follow slowly.

"Ruby!" Nyx said, unsheathing her sword, still trying to catch up to the fastest of the Xiao Long family. She raised her gauntlet, looking for something to hook onto to cover the youngest sister, and flinched when she heard the Nevermore shriek painfully loudly, enough to put her on her knees as it circled above and reared back its wings, barbed feathers raining down on the ground between the temporarily downed Faunus and her frightened sister.

Yang screamed the girls name just as the feathers slammed into the dirt, sinking to her knees and staring into the dust and feathers silently with red-rimmed eyes until she saw the girl, covering her head, and pinned by her cape by a Nevermore feather while the creature circled back around overhead and the Deathstalker reared up, thundering toward her too quickly for either her or her now-recovering Faunus sister to get to her.

A white blur shot past Yang and Nyx in a flash, a shimmering sound echoing for a half-second behind the blonde just before it shot off, and Yang blinked when she saw a wall of ice spring up between her sister and the Deathslaker, trapping its tail and claw in ice, and Weiss stood up steadily.

Nyx looked up, seeing a pillar of ice freezing the Deathstalker's tail solid. Weiss was saying something, but the ringing in her ears was too loud. Something was wet and warm on her head.

She put a hand to an ear, feeling wetness go to her hand, and took it off. Blood. She was bleeding from her ears. "-want you to know I can do this." she suddenly heard Weiss say, her hearing clearing.

"You're fine." Weiss said calmly, taking a breath, likely to recover from her exertion. "Woah…"

Yang slipped between a pair of Nevermore feathers, giving Ruby a hug and gripping Nyx's head. "So happy you're oka- Nyx, you're bleeding from your ears!"

"I noticed, thank you." Nyx grumbled.

"Guys? That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?" Jaune said, as the Nevermore gave another lesser screech and the Deathstalker tried to break the ice.

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss said tiredly with a gesture towards where the relics rested," I say we accomplish our goal and retreat."

"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things." Jaune explained simply, turning and running up the ramp with Ruby in tow. The redhead retrieved a piece identical to Yang's own, if only as a halfhearted, desperate attempt for a team, and Jaune took one of the final few pieces, a golden rook.

Nyx swore to herself as she heard the ice crack. "Guys, it's almost out! Let's get out of here!" The group followed the Faunus, running from one ruin along the cliff until they found another and realized that they couldn't outrun the Nevermore, its feathers slamming into the forest ahead of them and devastating the trees and ground.

"Well, _that's_ great!" Yang scowled, glaring at the ruined forest.

"Fuck you too!" Nyx cursed, throwing a rock at it and missing greatly. "Damn bigass bird!"

Behind them, the Deathstalker smashed through another line of trees, hurling dirt and wood into the air and hissing angrily at its fleeing prey. While slower than the Nevermore by a wide margin, a Deathstalker could still easily keep pace with most humans and Faunus.

"Ah, man, **run**!" Jaune yelled, grabbing Pyrrha's shoulder and spinning her away from the enemies to make her move.

"You get the Nevermore and we'll get the Deathstalker." Nyx said, as Jaune nodded in affirmation and the group separated.

"Alright, you oversized crab, let's see what you've…" Nyx trailed off, her ears twitching as she heard the clicking of fangs and the sound of something breaking stone. A long leg extended from the crevice, spearing into the ground with enough force to shatter the stone. The five looked at the leg as each drew their weapons, the deathstalker ignored for now.

"T-That's a Sepulcher…" Weiss whispered in dawning horror. A second leg came up, spearing the Deathstalker, impaling it's armor easily and slamming the now-corpse into the dirt. Two more came up, and, with a loud crack, the grimm threw itself over the cliff, barely bouncing though it had jumped twenty feet.

"You okay, Nyx?" Yang asked, her eyes going onto her surprisingly calm sister.

"I-it's just a grimm that looks like a s-spider. I'll be fine." She said uncertainly, her grip tightening on her sword.

Almost as if it were an act of Oum himself, a round from Nora missed the Nevermore, hitting a nearby pillar and causing it to fall directly on top of the Sepulcher. It gave a scream of rage and pain, shaking rubble off itself with an angry hiss and chitter.

As it turned to face the four at long last, Nyx felt a glimmer of hope. On the spider-like grimm's back, surrounded by dents, scrapes and other damages, wa a single large section where the head met the body that was missing its armor. The only viable opening aside from its underbelly or eyes, which would require braving the stinger, legs and fangs to get at, that they could hurt it through without some form of heavy explosives. Aside from the black underbelly, like every Grimm tended to have, its entire body was covered in thick, nigh undamageable, white plates with spiraling red patterns along each limb and joint.

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End file.
